Reid Ryan went the distance for Post 34, allowing no earned runs on eight hits with nine strikeouts and one walk.

“He did a good job,” Tuscaloosa coach Patrick Jones said. “He found the strike zone early so he could continue to go deep in the game and we need it.”

At the plate, Ben Ferren went 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Alex Hans went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Matt Bost notched a hit and two runs scored, and Tanner Luker had a double and an RBI.

“Today was the opposite of yesterday. We got a big hit when we needed it, we advanced runners. I would have been OK with it if we had scored five, six, seven more runs.”

Drew Buckhault pitched four innings for Post 74, giving up two runs on four hits with a strikeout and two walks, while Blake Shope finished the game, allowing a run on three hits with three strikeouts and three walks.

Ryan Sutton went 2-for-3 with a run scored, and Cale Brown went 2-for-4 and Dalton Reagin notched a double.

“Too many left on base and we had some baserunning mistakes — and those were on their own,” Covington coach Bill Dallas said. “I tell them you can be aggressive as long as the game’s even or you’re up. We just didn’t hit like we’re capable of hitting. We hit it at people.

“When kids get out of town they feel like they can stay up ’til 3 a.m. and play Xbox. But, we’re a first-year team and we went 23-4. We had a good year and it’s something to build on.”

Tuscaloosa got on the scoreboard off the bat. Ferren led off the game with a single to left field, took second on Alex Foster’s sacrifice bunt, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Chase Bowlin’s sac fly to left for a 1-0 lead.

Covington tied things up in the bottom of the third. Sutton hit a one-out, infield single and then took second on an error. Brown singled to right, sending Sutton to third. Reagin ground out to short, scoring Sutton for a 1-1 tie.

In the top of the fourth, Post 34 tacked on another run as Bost drew a leadoff walk and scored on Luker’s double to left to put Tuscaloosa up 2-1.

Post 34 loaded the bases in the fifth, but didn’t bring any runners home. Tuscaloosa made up for it in the top of the eighth. Bost hit a one-out infield single, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Hans’ single to center to give Post 34 a two-run cushion.

Covington, meanwhile, stranded six baserunners in the sixth, seventh and eighth combined before going in order in the ninth to end the game.